tonight I forgot about all the things that i sometimes think a "perfect" mom should be and for a brief moment I had complete clarity that motherhood is all about being lucky enough to share your life with a little perfect being (they will always be little, no matter how old they get...if not always perfect).

2.27.2008

In true Merrilee style, I grew impatient with my hair and before I was able to read any of your helpful comments on the previous posts, I bee-lined it to the salon and went for a blond choppy bang look. I like it so far...they really helped me feel at ease with having bangs so I'll give a go (not that I have any choice anymore ;)). Now of course your comments have made me think lighter was the wrong choice. Let me know if you think I should head back in the dark direction when this starts to grow out.

Ok so i've recently cut bangs and I'm not sure how I feel about them. As far as color, I know I need some serious TLC. The question is do I go lighter or darker? I need your input people. Mini crisis here.

2.24.2008

As I mentioned on my 30 things... list, I want to try and get some sewing in on Sundays. Every few months I'm tied up Sunday mornings working on lesson plans for Primary but when I'm not teaching I want to try and sew. Atticus is almost 2 years old and just moved to a toddler bed two days ago (when did I get such a big boy?!). As a result he is in desperate need of some new bedding. I thought I'd try my hand at quilting...but want to start simple. I love this scrappy quilt (pattern found in the book Trimmings) and how the striped patches are just a tad uneven. I realize they have a baby in this pic but I'm going to try and make it large enough for Atticus. Wish me luck!

2.21.2008

2.20.2008

Morning everyone. I've decided to start a new "column" on my blog called "Catwalk to Closet" where I take favorite catwalk looks and recreate them for less. I'm not going for an exact match, but I do try to capture the overall look and feel. If you have any runway pics you'd like me to break down for you, please send them over!

To start off with, I've chosen this gorgeous Lela Rose ensemble from her recent fall 08 collection (something we could all wear now as we go from winter to spring). The the right are my picks for recreating this look:

...by my husband, that is. I purchased these two paintings for what seemed like a steel of $19.99 and $16.99...until I realized that one would be shipped from China (ouch...shipping costs would be killer) and the other had a thick heavy frame...also making shipping costs high. Ok, so I neglect to look at shipping info and the location of the seller far too often...bad ebay newbie mistakes. But hey...practice makes perfect right? I just need more experience. And wouldn't you agree that they just go so perfect in the rooms they were meant for?

2.15.2008

...painted on architectural elements and creative art arrangements.*I'll probably never be a legit design/art blog as I don't source everything due to my large and somewhat disorderly design file (much of which I started well before I ever became a dedicated blogger). If you want to know where a particular image came from I'll do my best to track it down for you.

I LOVE these vintage inspired jewelry pieces featured in the March Country Living (a lovely issue filled with stories from women entrepreneurs). In fact I'm so into vintage jewelry that I had a dream the other night that I went to a workshop to create some similar necklaces to those above and I spent over $100 on the chain alone. I was so stressed about how I was going to confess this to Jon that when I finally woke up I was very relieved that no expensive chain purchasing occurred. Silliness.

Just the other day I was getting Atticus out of the bath and thought, "it would be so nice to have a comfy chair to sit on while I dried him off like all those fancy bathrooms in magazines". Then I thought, "but it would get water damage, and I don't have room"...etc. Well I still don't have room but I was excited to see that Country Living has come up with a solution to the water damage aspect by slipcovering a chair with oversize terry cloth bath towels. Sheer brilliance I tell you.

I couldn't sleep tonight as Jon was up working grading papers with his light on. The 2008 presidential primaries also came up right before I tried to go to sleep so...needless to say...exterior stimulation coupled with interior debating does not a tired girl make.

OK, so here is how I see it. Why would I shoot for the moon, take financial and emotional risks to create the American dream for my family and myself when after heavy taxes I could just as well work at Burger King, making more or less the same amount, and with padded health care? It doesn't add up to to burden the people with taxes (disguised as multiple reforms aiming to "make life better" when in turn it only perpetuates poverty, enslaving the recipient to a life of dependency) in the hopes of "freeing" them. It doesn't seem to speak logic to me. It sounds all warm and fuzzy yet does it really help? Does it really do good to shoot down those that can add more opportunity and jobs for those that need it? Shouldn't we be empowering our fellow Americans by encouraging them to work for themselves and their families and in a profession that enlightens their minds and in turn improves our economy (which then in turn improves their way of life)? To reduce a too large a percentage of America down to "those poor people who can't help themselves" is just well, un-American to me.

Ok, now I can go to sleep (hope I don't regret such musings in the morning...).

Don't worry, I'll be back to my usual pretty things and inspiring visuals. Such tangents won't become the norm...

I was perusing the etsy store White Elephant Vintage and found these cups and saucers. My mother had plates out of this same Corelle Crazy Daisy motif when I was growing up. Wonder where they are now...

Jon and I have been thinking of what names we want for our future children and everything seems to start with "A". Because we have used "A" for Atticus already we feel that if we name the next child with an "A" name we will have to continue to use "A" names thereafter. I used to think that this was a silly idea but now I'm liking the unity and feeling of belonging it would bring to our family. I also really have always loved the structured look of the "A". (oh and an "E" name slipped in there...but she could go by Angeline). Please comment with more names that you like that begin with "A". I'm open for ideas. Thanks!

2.10.2008

"[I]n this Emily was perfectly correct: home was, and has always been, something sacred for the Dickinsons. Nothing untoward could ever happen to us there, nothing that could make us lose faith in the goodness and nobility of humankind, nor lose faith in the future. Nothing could expose us to the storm outside, it was our private and fantastic kingdom, and we inhabited it naturally, like fairies do in tales, or those rebelious and passionate being in novels."